muller



' INVENTOR. JOHN Mvun 2 Sheets-Sheet ,1

J. MULLER ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Oct. .20, 1925 A TTORNE Y.

Dec. 8, 1925- Dec. 8, 1925- J. MUHLER mncrmsn'r FQR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Oct. 20-. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JOHN Nu m ATTORNEY.

Hav na 8,1925."

UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE.

Joan-lacuna, or nnooxmm, NEW Yong.

arr'ncmunnr FOB xm'rrrne macmmis.

Application filed October 20, 19a. Serial No. 689,832.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that 1, Joint MULLER, a citizen of Yugoslavia, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Queens and State of New YOI'k,-ll3.Ve invented certain new and useful Improvements in Attachments for Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specification. v

This invention relates to-attachments for knitting machines and more particularly to a novel and improved mechanism for knitting various desi'gns'or objects in arbitrary spaced relation and of different color.

The primary object of my invention is to provide an attachment or-mechanism to a knitting machine and" operable therewith wherein the yarn carrier stoppers and a yarn carrier may be moved relatlve to each other at predetermined intervals without effecting the operation of the rear yarn carriers whereby arbitrary objects of different color may be knitted.

Another object of my invention is to construct a novel and improved mechanism which can be attached or connected to the forwardly and rearwardly movable bar operable by the eccentric of a flat knitting machine, including provision for intermittently moving the yarn carrier stoppers relative to each other at predetermined intervals thus permitting: the'knitting of various colored designs without stopping the operation of themachine.

Another object'of my invention is to provide a knitting attachment of the character above specified adapted to be connected or attached to theoperating mechanism of aknitting machine including mechanism for automatically and uniformly moving or spacing a pair of yarn carriers proper andv reversing their direction ofmovement at predetermined intervals whereby various designs or figures of different. colored yarns or threads may be knitted on the main strip or breadth of material.

To enable others skilled in the art to fully Coinprehend the underlying. features of my inven' ti on that they mayembody thesame the-various modifications in structure and relation contemplated, drawings depicting a preferred form have been annexed as a part of this. disclosure and in such drawings,

similar reference characters denote corresponding parts thoughout all the views, of

' which,

Figure 1 is a frontview showing the knitting machine and the relative position of the attachment connectedthereto.

Figure 2 is a view of the attachment or mechanism connected to the forwardly and Referring now to the. drawing wherein" like reference characters designate corre sponding parts throughout the several views,

5 designates the stationary carrier bar and 6, the movable carriage which operates from the right to the left during the operation of the rear yarn carrier shown by numerals 7 and 8, all of said mechanism being operable by the pulley and belt construction 9, 10, commonly known in the art as the flat knitting machine. The knitted material is indicated at 11 and extends downwardly between a pair'of rollers 12, 13, below the stationary yarn carrier bar 5, above referred to. The flat knitting machine also includes the bar 15 which-is operated backward and forwardly by an eccentric 16, shown clearly by F igure 2 of the drawings, the last mentioned bar constituting the operating or driving means for actuating the mechanism now to casting, I have provided a right and lefthand screw 24 on Whicha pair of intern-ally threaded nuts or blocks 25, 26 are positioned. A pair of horizontal transversely, extending,

parallel connecting rods 28, 29 are connected c to the blocks 25,26, and to the flat, de-

pending metal strips 30, 31 of a pair ofyarn carrier stoppers.32, 33, which control the relative movement of a front yarn carrier 34, which yarn carrier, of course, cooperates with the needles of the knitting machine. In other words, the yarn carrier stoppers 32, 33, are spaced relative to each other, the yarn carrier 2A may movechorizontally and effect only those needles in its path of movement and consequently, the greater the movement of the yarn carrier, the greater the number of" needles and consequently, the greater the number of stitches are made. It will therefore be seen that by spacing the yarn carrier stoppers, an arbitrary distance on the yarn carrier bar 5, the front yarn carrier may knit without affecting the operation the rear yarn carriers 7, 8, and thus different colored threads may be utilized to produce the different designs such as blocks, diamonds, or any other designs on the strip being knitted. I In order to effect the relative movement of the yarn carrier stoppers 32, 33, through the connecting rods 28, 29 and their respective blocks 25, 26, I have provided and mounted on the right and left hand screw 24, a pair of ratchets 35, 36, the teeth of said ratchets extending in reverse direction as shown by Figure 3 of the drawings.

Loosely connected to the sliding" block 19 for vertical movement, there is provided a fork-shaped element 38, the upper and lower jaws 39, 40, of which are bent in reverse or V opposite direction so that said jaws may engage the reversely angle teeth of the ratchets 35, 36, when said element 38 is lowered and raised. This movement will of course effect the direction of rotation of theright and left hand screw 24-and consequently the spreading or relative movement of the blocks 25, 26, so that when the jaw 39 is in engagement with one of theratchets, the screw 24 will be rotated so as to spread the blocks 25, 26 and consequently space the yarn carrier stop ers 32, 33. On the other hand when the e ement 38 is raised so that the jaw 40 engages the adjacent ratchet, the screw 24 will e rotated in the opposite direction and thus the blocks 25, 26 will move toward each other and thus regulate the distance or number of needles engaged by the yarn carrier. 34.

In order to effect the automatic, re ular spacing of the blocks 25, 26, at pre etermined intervals during the knitting operation, a ratchet 41 is loosel mounted on the shaft 24, the teeth of said last mentioned ratchet being engaged by the other end 42 of a lever 43 pivotally connected as at 44 to' the fork-shaped lever 38. Upon each roomrocation. therefor of the eccentric and the forward and rearward movement of the bar 15, the lever 43 will actuate the ratchet one tooth or the distance of one of the links of an endless chain 45, also loosely mounted on the ends of the shaft 24, above referred to. It will be seen that the endless chain 45 comprises a series of what I term low links 46, high links 47 and neutral links 48, which are ada ted to engage an extension plate 49 attache to' an angularly bent lever 50. The upper end of the lever is pivotally connected as at 51 to a stud and the lower end 52 of said lever carries a horizontally extending pin 53, which is adapted to engage beneath the fork element 38 as clearly shown by Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings. By reason of this construction, it will be seen that when theshaft 24 is actuated by the reciprocation of the sliding block 19 and the lever 43, as the high links travel and engage the extension plate 49, the lever will be raised and consequently the pin 53 will raise thefork-shaped element 38 so that the jaw 40 will engage the ratchet 35, moving the screw shaft 24 in one direction. As

. this operation is effective, the blocks move to their extreme position until the low links pass beneath the extension plate 49 whereupon the fork-shaped element 38 lowers until the jaw 39 engages the contiguous ratchet and the screw 24 is moved in the opposite direction and the blocks travel toward each other, in each instance, the yarn carrier stoppers moving in the same relative direction as said block. When the neutral links pass beneath the extension plate 49, both aws 39 and 40 are disengaged from the ratchet and consequently the blocks 25, 26, do not move. Thus the neutral links are introduced in the endless chain in order to permit of the spacing of the design, which in one form is shown as a diamond and indicated at numeral 55. t

In the construction shown and above described, it will be easily understood that the size or width of the design, such as the diamond, will depend on the relative spacing of the yarn carrier stoppers and consequently if the number of links in the endless chain is increased or decreased, they will effect the relative movement of the blocks 25, 26, and necessarily the yarn carrier stoppers referred 'to. It will be further recognized that various designs ma be made by alternating the high and low links with certain of the neutral links so that in each case, the blocks 25, 26, may be separated or moved relative to each other arbitrary distances, which affects the number of needles which cooperate with the yarn carrier 34. In the type of machine shown, when the yarn carrier 7 moves backward and forward the rear yarn carrier 8 and the front yarn carrier 34 do not operate, at which interval the neutral links of the endless chain pass beneath the extension plate 49, however, when the yarn carrier 34 begins to operate the rear yarn carrier 8 operates back and forward and the yarn carrier 7 remains stationary, so that when two different kinds or color of yarn are wound through the yarn carriers Sand 34, a double stitch is thus made and the particular design, such as the diamond 55, is set out somewhat in relief.

While I have shown the mechanism as attached to a fiat knitting machine, it will be readily recognized by those skilled in the art that the attachment is equally capable of being positioned on other types of machines to accomplish the same purposes.

While I have illustrated and described my invention with some degree of particularity, I realize that in practice various alterations therein may be made. I therefore reserve the right and privilege of changing the form of the details of construction or otherwise altering the arrangement of the correlated parts without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is 1. In combination with the yarn carriers and operating mechanism of a knitting machine, yarn carrier stoppers, a pair of parallel connecting rods attached to each of the stoppers, a single right and left hand threaded rod having blocks movable thereon connected to each of the said rods, and means cooperating between the threaded rod and the operating mechanism to actuate the blocks and the connecting rods at predetermined intervals and space the yarn carrier stoppers during the operation of the machine.

2. In combination with the yarn carriers and operating mechanism of a knitting machine, yarn carrier stoppers, a pair of parallel connecting rods attached at one end to each of the stoppers, a threadedshaft having blocks movable thereon, attached to the opposite ends of the connecting rods, a forked member cooperating with the shaft and the operating mechanism to actuate the blocks and the connecting rods and yarn carrier stoppers at predetermined intervals and means to reverse the direction of actuation of said blocks during the operation of the machine.

3. In combination with the yarn carriers and operating mechanism ofa knitting machine, yarn carrier stoppers, a pair of connecting elements attached to said stoppers, a threaded shaft having blocks mounted thereon attached to the opposite ends of the connecting elements, and means cooperating with the operating mechanism for reversing the direction of rotation of said shaft at predetermined intervals to relatively space the am carrier stoppers.

4. In com ination with the yarn carriers and operating mechanism of a knitting machine, yarn carrier stoppers, a pair of connecting elements attached at one end to each of said stoppers, a freely rotatable threaded shaft having feed blocks mounted thereon, connected to the opposite ends of the connecting elements, means operable by the operating mechanism of the knitting machine for actuating said shaft and independent means for reversing the direction of rotation of the shaft at predetermined intervals.

5. In combination with the yarn carriers and operating mechanism of a knitting machine, yarn carrier stoppers, a pair of parallel connecting rods attached at their ends to said stoppers, a freely rotatable right and left hand threaded shaft, feed blocks mounted on the shaft and connected to the opposite ends of the rods, a sliding block operable by'the operating mechanism of the machine, a loose ratchet and chain freely mounted on the shaft, a pair of reverse gears keyed to the said shaft, means operable by the block to engage either of the said gears and means cooperating with the loose chain to engage said reverse gears at predetermined intervals and space said blocks and the yarn carrier stoppers.

6. In combination with the yarn carriers and operating mechanism of a knitting machine, yarn carrier stoppers, connecting rods attached to said stoppers, a shaft having feed blocks thereon connected to the opposite ends of the rods, a sliding block operable by the operating mechanism reverse gears on the shaft, a single forked element for engaging either of said gears actuated by said block and means for raising and lowering said element at predetermined intervals to reverse the direction of rotation of said shaft.

7. In combination with the yarn carriers and operating mechanism of a knitting machine, yarn carrier stoppers, connecting rods attached to said stoppers, a shaft having feed blocks thereon movable in opposite directions connected to the opposite ends of the rods, a sliding block operable by the operating mechanism, a loose ratchet and chain on the shaft, reverse gears mounted on said shaft, a forked. lever adapted. to engage either of said gears, and means operable by the loose chain to raise and lower the forked lever to engage the gears at predetermined intervals and reverse the direction of rotation of the shaft and .the feed blocks.

In testimony whereof I aflix m signature.

JOHN MULLEl [1,. 5.] 

